msw

I just finished giving a talk at the second Midwest Security Workshop, and enjoyed my largest audience yet for the Invasive Sniffing talk (roughly 150). I also thought it was cool that the screen on which my slides showed up was probably 30 feet tall!


(No that's not me, just a shot of the screen.)

I'm very sleepy. I got four hours of sleep last night, and enjoyed waking up at 5:15am to leave for this workshop. I need to find some coffee...

heck of a day

Though the latest trend has been bad days for me, today was completely different.

It started off with a good parking spot, and a good meeting with my advisor. He gave me some compliments and as always, made me feel good about myself.

Next, I got another good parking spot, and had another good meeting.

Later I got home, craving some chili, so I started working on that, all the while waiting for the cable guy to come "fix" my connectivity problems.

Minutes after I got back, FedEx showed up with an early birthday present... an espresso maker. Woohoo! Thanks, Mom, I need this!

The chili is cooking, and cable guy shows up. He's really nice and changes some fittings, making the resistance between my modem and the network node much less and hopefully fixing the problem. He buys my old clunky 17" monitor (which has been with me since junior year of high school).

Feeling productive and optimistic, I call the department of ed to ask what I have to do to "fix" my loan situation (due to a mistake by the registrar, my interest capitalized and I lost my grace period while I was in Oz). They explain why the interest hasn't been removed from the principle -- boiling down to the registrar not reporting me as full time during the last summer. Annoying. I don't know what the deal is, but they say to file another deferrment request, hopefully they'll provide the right data. I gear up to raise hell at the registrar's office on Monday.

An hour later, the nice woman from DoE calls back and says they fixed it. No need to argue with the registrar! Yay!

Now I'm waiting for R to show up (she's visiting this weekend), and anticipating the much craved Chili/Cornbread dinner that's mostly ready. Mmm.

19 inches of heaven

Happy birthday to me.



Okay, it's not my birthday, but I'm a proud owner of more screen real-estate -- and it's affordable on my peanuts stipend (yes, you can buy it with peanuts). Quite an upgrade from my old 17" Dell monitor from 1998.

arrrr

Yarrrrrrrrrrr!

(Link)

Stop-Phishing @ IU: Google Public Search service

Potential for phishing using Google's Public Search service.

Note: I had been holding back on this entry, but since this flaw has gone public elsewhere, I suppose it's okay to post again.

Stop-Phishing @ IU: Google Public Search service

social sniper

I am a social sniper. The window facing 4th street is a advantage of sitting in the cafe where I am. So far, two people I know have walked by, and I just run outside and surprise them. You could be next. Where am I camping? Beware walking through neighborhoods with cafes with street-facing windows.

Croc hunter dies

It's a sad day, Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin was slain by a stingray. He was 44.

(Link)

ramen copyright

On 30-August, Jennifer Granick wrote an analogy in Wired News that ties together Ramen sales and the RIAA's crack-down on guitar tabs. An excerpt:

They'd form an association -- say, the Ramen Industrial Alliance of Asia, or RIAA -- and announce a clampdown on the proliferation of infringing noodle shops. Their arguments would echo the music industry's. "The chefs who created ramen deserve to get paid for their creation," they'd say. "These noodle shops are taking profits away from the creators, while peddling an often-inferior product to an unsuspecting public that believes they are getting real ramen."

Although I disagree with her arguments that "ramen-copyright" and "guitar tab-copyright" are the same, I concur that guitar tabs are in no way a threat to the original composers. Once upon a time it was a complement to have your original work arranged for a new type of musical group.

(Link)